Georgetown Gets $10 Million for Holocaust Research

By Kelly Frazier --
29 Feb 2016 --

$10 million has been donated to Georgetown University for Holocaust Research and Forensic study.

Just recently, it was announced by the Georgetown University that they will be using a gift of $10 million to establish a stable program as it relates to forensic studying of the Holocaust.

Georgetown Gets $10 Million for Holocaust Research[/tweetthis]

The donation to the Washington based institution was made by a couple from Florida, Norman and Irma Braman, who have also made large contributions to various hospitals and other universities. The couple is actively involved with Yad Vashem in Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that’s located in Washington.

The Braman Endowed Program is set in such a manner that it will be able to assist with research, teaching and field study for the faculty of Georgetown and its students, as well as fund the creation of a fresh public outreach arm that is focused on preventing Holocausts in the future. It is also aimed at funding a well-equipped professorship, research and public programs related to the Holocaust.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the president of the Jesuit and Catholic University, John DeGioia said that the gift will make certain that studies of the Holocaust will always remain an important area of study and scholarship at the Georgetown University.

A historian by the name of Reverend Patrick Desbois was selected as the inaugural holder of the Braman Endowed Professorship of the Practice of the Forensic Study of the Holocaust. Being a French Roman Catholic priest, Desbois had an integral role in bringing the gift from the Bramans to Georgetown.

In the university statement, Norman Braman said, “I have decided to make this gift, now, and to Georgetown, in part as a sign of my appreciation for the leadership of Pope Francis and the priority he so clearly attaches to fostering closer relations between Jews and Catholics.”

An announcement was also made by Georgetown University, stating that starting on the 29^th of February 2015, its previously named Program for Jewish Civilization will be changed to the Center for Jewish Civilization.

Exciting news for #Holocaust studies! Georgetown gets $10 million for Holocaust research as Jewish studies grow https://t.co/g9i8knQGVo
— Samantha Vinokor (@Sam_Vinokor) February 25, 2016

The functions of the centre will comprise of teaching about various perspectives of the Holocaust, which will include its consequences, causes, the role it had in the development of the modern state of Israel, the continuous impact it is having on modernized Judaism, questions regarding the legitimacy of Israel and anti-Semitism.

The Program for Jewish Civilization was initially opened in 2003 and it has so far received a total of $10 million in gifts from friends and more than 500 alumni, all in an effort to ensure that it would be endowed permanently.